Level 12 and completed the Saugus Ironworks mission last night dressed as something much more akin to Wolfenstein then what you would expect from Fallout, or perhaps that's just me. I get what folk are saying now about it being much more of a shooter with rpg elements than an rpg with shooter elements but it's been perfectly serviceable in the 15 hours I've put in so far. Love Nick. Love Strong.

Took down Slag far easier than I know I should have been able to with a mixture of flame thrower and shooting while using a bit of metal as cover and it's just a shame every bit of power armour he had was too heavy for me to take so I'm guessing I've done it too early or something because my carrying level was not up to the task at all. I found the forged fairly easy outside as I sat on a hill sniping many of them and the remaining ones I lured to a nearby swimming pool which sparked the interest of a group who assisted me in taking them all down and inside I just kept my finger on the flame on button. Job done.

The game is slowly gelling with me although I will admit I'm pissed about a certain mission which involves fending off ghouls outside a police station only for me not being able to track down the last remaining bastards to activate the final section of the actual mission and instead just keeps shouting "Check your fire, we got hostiles!!". Looked in the train area, inside busses, all over. Nothing. Some have suggested one may be bugged out on top of the station itself but I'm buggered if I can figure out a way up there. For a game that is almost two years old the game seems to be riddled with bugs still including a particular nasty one that involved Nick Valentine walking next to me and bumping into a parked car which somehow made the car explode killing me instantly. Another time I was picking off an enemy with my sniper rifle way up on top of a water tower or something and when my last shot contacted them they span into the air and just kept on spinning there like a demented catherine wheel. It's hard not to be amused by it all though as such complete randomness in open world setting is likely to happen at some point.

I love Fallout 4. Keep going back to it. I completed the game with the institute story line, collected one of every power armour type, and all the custom paint jobs. Recently started again, and will pick a different path this time.

I loved Far Harbour and got some great new weapons with it. My son loves Nuka-World, but its not my thing.

Currently on a bobble-head hunt. Determined to get them all.

Just once I want radiation to turn something into a giant fluffy bunny, instead of the Grand Poobah of all Mirelurks.

I've never played any Fallout games so I'm really asking totally blind here: What exactly is this game about? I see lots of videos about building settlements and such - is this something that a player can just do for hours and days at a time, or are there attacks that happen to interrupt, or what? What the heck kind of game is this? Can I just spend all my time building a city if I want? What mods are recommended?

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The settlement building stuff is great fun. Spent ages making a huge upper house on top of the gas station near the start. (And then gradually filling it up with all the cool stuff I found on my travels)

It's a tad tricky occasionally but it really fits in nicely to the surroundings when you get it right. It really boosted the game for me, and added an extra layer of depth. Although the base invasion stuff I tended to ignore most of the time (unless I was nearby).

Well, I'm still stuck on wi-fi again so no mp/coop for me, for the foreseeable few months. I went ahead and got this on Steam as the whole GOTY kit is 40% off for today (50% for the game only). Downloading will take about 6 hours but looks like there's going to be lots for me to do and explore, what with the extra content.

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So I've been playing this like crazy - I think I did a fourteen-hour splurge last week, made myself dizzy and had nothing but Fallout dreams for two nights straight!

What I'm enjoying most about it is the overwhelming atmosphere. I am really taken in by the early twentieth century American Atomic Age alternate timeline. The vehicle wrecks are particularly amazing to me. A nice bonus to the futuristic landscape is all the city buildings; this gives the game a three dimensional quality that is daunting and beautiful in a post-apocalyptic way With such an enormous map area (I've got the season pass addition, with all the DLC stuff) I'm actually feeling overwhelmed by the game. There's enough to do to last me a year or two of full time playing. Like Skyrim, my quest list is suddenly over a dozen items long though I've barely started on the main quest line. Very much worth the $35 I paid. My PC is running everything at ultra and it looks awesome without any mods, or the high res texture pack. Will download that today, I think.

Crafting is cool and worth the effort. I especially like the different weapon mods. Building communities is fussy and time consuming but I'm enjoying it at least for now, though I think I want to focus on one community instead of trying to build ten different places.

And Jez, I bet I'll start it all over again in survival mode at some point, as well.

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